A Kiss And A Cuddle

They may have started out simply by mucking around on a four-track at home in Melbourne, but there was a rare alchemy to The Cat’s Miaow – the trio of Kerrie, Bart and Andrew, later joined by Cameron on drums, wrote direct, conversational indie-pop songs with a knack for transcending their humble beginnings. Brevity was the soul of much of their music, along with a casual, unforced melancholy, carried most effectively when Kerrie was singing: her voice, crystal clear and with no flashy extemporisation, was deeply affecting. A Kiss And A Cuddle compiles songs from their first four cassettes, several of which were released on Australian label Toytown; they document the sound of a group of young people tentatively, carefully finding their voice together. There are hint of Galaxie 500 here (see beautifully muted songs like “Aurora”), but much of it reflects the kind of driven yet understated jangle-pop traded, via snail mail, on cassettes through the eighties and early nineties (“Third Floor Fire Escape View” is a perfect example).